from the that's-different dept.
Oldtimers among you will recall when nanotechnology was anathema to the MEMS community, who viewed it as science fiction. Now nanotech is such a (fundable) buzzword that MEMS is being repositioned as nanotechnology by "Trends in Nanotechnology", based in Europe. Elsewhere in the issue appears this: "We're going to make just one prediction, which is that the use of the word nanotechnology will see explosive growth in the coming year. Unfortunately, most of this growth is likely to represent bandwagon-jumping." Ironic, yes? Read More for the repositioning quote. From the free "Trends in Nanotechnology" email newsletter (featured on nanodot previously), Jan 4, 2001: "Red Herring points out in a somewhat narrowly-focussed article on microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) (http://www.redherring.com/insider/2000/1220/tech-mag-88-mems122000.html) that MEMS aren't nanotechnology. Although this is true in the very strictest sense, MEMS is evolving towards NEMS in many areas and existing MEMS can serve as nanoscale sensors and actuators, so we beg to differ."
CP: C'mon folks, there's a huge difference in scale between micro and nano. Let's try to keep these two valuable technologies distinctly named so we can speak coherently about their interactions.
